The Folly of Political Orthodoxy

Most political talk is little more than bad religion.
We can define wisdom as a mental structure which views all things in terms of morality. Not the mythology of Western Civilization which attempts to rig up a moral system from nothing, but the ancient moral truth of human nature. More importantly, it is the nature of reality itself as defined by revelation. Nothing of any real importance has changed since the Fall, though cultural perception has drifted all over the map. The wise course in any context is what makes the most of things, bringing the focus back to what really does work.
Jesus Christ as a human being was born a moral genius. It is orthodoxy to say He was perfect and always knew the will of His Father, but that phrasing is buried in cultural mythology, so we have to find something we can say that shakes free of the vast pile of intellectual rubble. On a human level, Jesus always seemed to know exactly what was the wisest course in any context because He saw through the lies of this fallen existence. He understood instinctively the intersection of Eternity with this world. He suffered no confusion, not even from His own cultural background. He was constantly correcting false impressions.
Not once do we have a record of Him or His associates telling someone it was wrong to be involved in human politics. It’s not possible to escape politics, from the micro to the macro. Your level of involvement is a matter of context and moral imperatives, not logic. Jesus knew politics had no business in His calling, but that didn’t keep Him from making choices with clear political impact. What we do have is discouragement from a silly life of activism and a lot of talk about the best way to live in your context. That includes people who find themselves in political positions. Something Jesus said or did pricked their consciousness of moral need; they rose to a desire of wisdom, rose just a bit out of themselves to see things from a higher perspective.
Memories of yesterday are there so you have some hope of understanding what makes you tick. Reading history gives you some hope of seeing what makes people tick, but reading revelation tells you what makes reality tick. There is a time and place for dwelling over your failures and sorrows, but when it’s time to act, you can’t let that bind you. The question remains, “What do we do now?” Wisdom is applying moral reasoning to the context where you are, and committing yourself to making it a habit.
There are some issues which, for all practical purposes, are absolute. There are some things extremely hard to justify in any context. The assumption we therefore always have an obvious course of action based on a single defining attribute of the moment is morally evil. In a fallen world there are seldom any good choices. Almost everything here is a matter of seeing the wisest and least evil of bad options. The most tiresome and evil thing we face today is political orthodoxy. The mere suggestion of rational structure in politics is pushing blasphemy. The notion anyone could propose a frame of reference that pretends to account for all, or even most, of what we need to understand is itself an evil lie. Recognizing a moral failure is one thing; deciding what to do about it is another. If any significant number of people can predict your actions most of the time, you have no business leading your own self, much less others.
The ability to decide what is morally appropriate is itself a separate moral question.
You as an individual stand before God on two levels. We can hardly discuss the level of ultimate reality in the Spirit Realm. The most practical answer we have about that is: God knows and decides for Himself. But on the human level we stand before God according to His revealed moral truth. The mission of seeking to satisfy the spiritual necessities includes a concerted effort to fulfill earthly moral imperatives. Don’t confuse the two realms. If we do not start from the assumption our cultural context is inherently anti-moral here in America, we cannot hope to explain to anyone what is wise. Fundamental to Western culture is the utterly stupid notion we can construct a set of rules and guidelines that we can use to avoid having to think about the situation. If you misinterpret human history consistently, by ignoring the invisible moral flavor as God defines it, then you cannot hope to formulate a wise course of action.
There is no objective; there is no heaven on earth. There is only a path which you see in retrospect, where you held to, or strayed from, moral wisdom. There is nothing to achieve, only a job to fulfill while you live. It’s not about being; it’s not a question of what sort of person you are against some orthodox standard. Nor is it a question precisely of doing, but of living. Morality is not an attribute of actions and persons, but an orientation beyond persons and actions. Wisdom is the drive to find your own moral center, to discover the thread of existence which brings you the greatest sense of peace. It’s not something you can measure by what it accomplishes toward some external standard, but fulfilling your own piece of moral reality. Moral reality is too big for any one of us to comprehend because it is, in a sense, an aspect of God Himself.
Don’t pretend you can understand God for everyone else. It’s all you can do to understand your own piece of Him. Likewise, you cannot hope to understand what is politically good and right for everyone else. This evil appetite to control, to hold your world in tight grip by projecting your reasoning onto reality is a fundamental sin. Don’t pretend any human mind, much less your own human mind, is capable of grasping reality beyond your personal experience and duties. Finding a sense of peace is possible, but it will often be contrary to what makes sense to you. Prefer the sense of peace over the sense of logic.
Demanding an intellectually satisfying answer is itself evil.